Discussion Literature / HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix

• Idiot Plot: You wanna explain why none of the adults tell Harry anything, and vice versa?
  • Because Dumbledore suspects that Voldemort might try to learn anything they do tell Harry through their not-entirely-blockable mental link. And, unfortunately, they're proven right.
  • Or wrong, rather. They could have filled in Harry without giving him any information that Voldemort didn't already have.
    • Because then that would have told Voldemort how much they knew. He didn't even know Dumbledore knew about the Horcruxes until a good deal through the seventh book. Also, Snape's a triple agent, which might have been comforting to Harry. In short, they can't reveal that they know ANYTHING lest they risk Voldemort knowing and doubling his efforts to conceal his actions from them.
    • Then why did they wait half way through term before they had Snape even try to teach Harry to block this effect? Granted, it didn't work when they eventually did try, but still.
    • Dumbledore could certainly have told Harry about the prophecy without telling Voldemort anything he didn't already know: not only did Voldemort know its contents, he knew that the Order knew its contents. And that was really the only information Harry needed to avoid Sirius's death.

This is a horrible mess of natter and needs to be cleaned up, not to mention that it totally ignores the explanations given in the book; that Dumbledore attempted to keep things from Harry so that he could remain happily ignorant, failing to account for the fact that keeping Harry in the dark didn't make him happy. And of course, Dumbledore has a fair bit of knowledge/guesses here that he doesn't reveal until later books anyway.

• Doorstopper: Over 750 pages no matter which edition. (Ironically, the fifth movie was the briefest thus far.)
  • And it showed. Boyyy, did it show.
  • You mean in that it eliminated the unneeded detritus and sharpened the story?
  • The thing about OOTP is that it's a turning point for Harry. It's very long, and not a lot happens, and Harry is annoying/frustrating at times, because that way it's significant when he's affected by Sirius's death at the end, learns about the prophecy and regroups for book six. You don't have to like it, but understand that it's not trying and failing to be a thrill a minute with your good pal Harry. The Film of the Book obviously threw out this approach, because the major plot points were good movie fodder and the angsting not so much, and in doing so it makes it a very different story. Pick which version you prefer, if either, and don't blame the other one for not being the same.
    • Ehhhh, yes and no. Certain things were cut that would have helped continuity of the story for people who had only ever seen the films (i.e., they ended up having no idea why certain things were going on, because they'd been explained by scenes that were cut). Also, jumping right from Mr. Weasley's attack to his return from the hospital sucks a whole lotta the drama from the moment, as well as just being a whiplash-inducing editing cut. Extended Director's Cuts help, but not for first-time viewers in the theaters.
      • What Extended Director's Cuts???
  • And then there's a few nutjobs out there who have Oot P as both their favorite book (great villain, Harry and the DA, the introduction of so many great characters like Tonks, Luna, and Kinglsy) AND their favorite movie (the kids are finally decent actors, the script is tight and exciting, and the deviations from the book are well done).

For God's sake, somebody fix this. Why can't we just say it's a Door Stopper and be done with it?